I had a blast playing Tricolor Wonders. It is a very polished and nice looking game, complete with transformation animations and such. To be able to reach this kind of level in only a month deserves high praise. If I didn’t know, I would be very surprised if someone told me that this is a game jam game; if this was released on Steam right now as a full game, I wouldn’t even question it.
Having some exploration bits to pick up some cards was a pleasant surprise; I like the fact that each girl is unique and different (and can even pick up items for you), and I noticed the faster running speed on Chameko. I played until the end and defeated Elizabeth because it was very engaging and enjoyable to play. Changing my deck to prepare for fights, before and in-between feels good and there’s a good amount of planning and strategy involved. I also appreciate some of the puns and references.
For criticism, it could use better writing/story for a more proper goal or motivation to defeat the monsters. It needs a little more emotion. Although few, the Elizabeth voice lines are quite distracting for someone who understands Japanese; it needs to have some relation to what is being said or it will feel disconnected. That being said, the others are great. Each girl has a passive ability, but this is only shown during the rest sections between fights - which made me confused why Chameko’s cards are suddenly different at first. It should be shown in the inventory menu. I also feel that the 2x damage needs some balancing, some cards that deal high damage basically become un-defendable/insta-death for both the player and the enemy. Try fine-tweaking them like 1.1x, 1.2x, etc. The total immunity can make me feel like a god just because my character is of a particular type. In terms of UI, there needs to be a clearer indication when a girl is exhausted or downed, because my eyes are on the cards most of the time, it’s hard to notice the animation or namecard at the top. An extra touch to pull the card out and make it on-top on hover would be nice too, so I don’t have to select it to view the full text all the time.
Overall, I genuinely had great fun. Amazing work!